An Open Letter about My Model X Body Repair Experience...

[joanlevin]

I was referred to a Tesla approved body shop. They assessed the small damaged area in the back of my Model X 100D. They ordered the replacement parts. I have called several times to get an update regarding delivery of the parts. No return calls....This has been going on for about four months.
I am so glad I read your post, although I am so sorry that you had to go through this terrible body shop experience. Your experience has convinced me that I should live with the slight imperfections and stop dealing with the body shop that has not bothered to update me about my impending service.
You will love having the 100D! Congratulations in advance.

 

[N5329K]

my model S sit in bodyshop for over 2 month now. one thing I don't understand is that body shop keep claiming that this is a very complex car and even say fixing it is a puzzle to them. but when I bought it, the sales person keep saying how easy the maintainance of the car is due to the less parts than an ICE car.

Salespeople sell. They don't do maintenance.
Robin

 

[JonathanD]

Brutal story, sorry you had to go through it. Seems to me part of the problem here is the body shop lacked the proper tools and expertise to even begin the repairs in a timely manner. Tesla should probably require a higher level of capability for a recommended body shop. With these types of repair timelines, it would be better to have fewer, more specialized shops even if it means having to transport the vehicle farther. Paying for an extra tow for a substantial reduction in repair time seems like a no brainer for all parties involved.

There's a reason why there a lot of auto shops out there that only work on one, or relatively few, brand of car. Now that's usually mechanics, not bodywork folks, but given the unique construction of Teslas I think it would make a lot of sense for something similar to become the norm. I'm sure this process has not been fun for the body shop in question here either. I wonder what they are going to say the next time someone has a Tesla they need repaired.

 

[beths11]

my model S sit in bodyshop for over 2 month now. one thing I don't understand is that body shop keep claiming that this is a very complex car and even say fixing it is a puzzle to them. but when I bought it, the sales person keep saying how easy the maintainance of the car is due to the less parts than an ICE car.

Maintenance and fixing body/chassis damage are two very different things.

 

[telectric]

We are going on 9 MONTHS right now since our 2016 Signature Series Model X P90D required a quarter panel after someone hit us on February 28, 2017. After months of waiting for parts to arrive at the body shop in Plano, TX, we received a call that a hailstorm demolished the ENTIRE vehicle, and every single piece of the exterior had to be replaced—every body panel, every piece of glass, EVERYTHING. USAA refused to total our vehicle and instead opted to repair it. Despite months of please begging them to total it, with thousands of dollars in legal fees after getting our attorney involved, we are still in an ICE rental with Enterprise 9 months later, with no guarantee as to when and if our Tesla will ever be repaired.

Now, this week, we were notified that it will be at least another 3 months before a particular retrofit glass for the rear doors is made available, since Tesla has since updated parts and they no longer fit. The shop stated this will easily extend past the year mark, and while they are apologetic, it doesn't change the fact that we have been paying a premium for a vehicle which we will have been unable to drive for a year, racked up thousands of dollars in fuel charges, not to mention the value loss on the car due to two accidents—one of which happened DURING repairs at the shop!

To say that we are beyond frustrated is the understatement of the century. We feel completely helpless at this point and don't know what to do. We are truly at our wits end, as USAA completely ignores all communication, the body shop is stuck waiting, and we continue down this endless rabbit hole of a nightmare.

 

[scottm]

View attachment 257562

Hey, tell us more about the red rim lining thing you have on the wheels?

 

[banned-66611]

We are going on 9 MONTHS right now since our 2016 Signature Series Model X P90D required a quarter panel after someone hit us on February 28, 2017. After months of waiting for parts to arrive at the body shop in Plano, TX, we received a call that a hailstorm demolished the ENTIRE vehicle, and every single piece of the exterior had to be replaced—every body panel, every piece of glass, EVERYTHING. USAA refused to total our vehicle and instead opted to repair it. Despite months of please begging them to total it, with thousands of dollars in legal fees after getting our attorney involved, we are still in an ICE rental with Enterprise 9 months later, with no guarantee as to when and if our Tesla will ever be repaired.

Now, this week, we were notified that it will be at least another 3 months before a particular retrofit glass for the rear doors is made available, since Tesla has since updated parts and they no longer fit. The shop stated this will easily extend past the year mark, and while they are apologetic, it doesn't change the fact that we have been paying a premium for a vehicle which we will have been unable to drive for a year, racked up thousands of dollars in fuel charges, not to mention the value loss on the car due to two accidents—one of which happened DURING repairs at the shop!

To say that we are beyond frustrated is the understatement of the century. We feel completely helpless at this point and don't know what to do. We are truly at our wits end, as USAA completely ignores all communication, the body shop is stuck waiting, and we continue down this endless rabbit hole of a nightmare.

Can't you get them to at least loan you an EV? Must be costing you a fortune in fossil fuel which presumably you are billing them for...

 

[Bebop]

This is terrible...

Who is your insurance provider? So we know who NOT to sign up with.

 

[gjunky]

Keep in mind that all insurances are in business NOT to pay you.... sad but true. The fact that you would switch to another insurance company after your current one does pay (on time) doesn't make any difference to them.
Doesn't even seem to matter what is being insured, car or person.

All these stories make me a little scared to drive the car. I love our red dragon and would not want to be without for any period of time.

 

[rpetty]

Really appreciate your story. As I brought my new Model X home this past August, I was showing off the various doors, compartments, and features, when my son accidentally closed the garage door on the trunk. My heart sunk. The tailgate appeared to be badly scratched up, but fortunately for me, the scratches were just to the clear coat and therefore cosmetic. The Tesla detailing shop was able to "buff" them out.

I had not thought about the implications for repair post-accident. I assumed like I imagine most Tesla owners do, that a repair was similar to any other car. I think I will drive a little more carefully now.

 

[telectric]

This is terrible...

Who is your insurance provider? So we know who NOT to sign up with.

USAA. I can't, in good conscious, recommend them to anyone anymore. This is beyond unacceptable. Any recommendations on who to turn to once this fiasco wraps up?

 

[telectric]

Can't you get them to at least loan you an EV? Must be costing you a fortune in fossil fuel which presumably you are billing them for...

I wish. The girl we deal with at Enterprise has been very understanding and nice, but no luck getting into anything comparable. A few months ago, just one of the rental invoices being billed to our insurance was over $7k. I just can't for the life of me understand why USAA wouldn't total this thing. Why they instead opted to rebuild the entire exterior of a Model X and put us in a rental car for what will be more than a year is beyond me. Another fun little note: the body shop has already received 3 cracked windshields from Tesla, delaying things further.

 

[Bebop]

USAA. I can't, in good conscious, recommend them to anyone anymore. This is beyond unacceptable. Any recommendations on who to turn to once this fiasco wraps up?

Have you looked into that new InsureMyTesla?

InsureMyTesla

Also Progressive seems to be pretty popular with a lot of owners. I'm currently with them, though I'm going to check out the above link to get a quote and see. If it's the same or less in price then I'm going to switch.

 

[Seattle Tom]

Dutch,

This entire post is literally my worst fear with our X. I’ve become slightly less nervous driving the X around in the five months we’ve owned it, but only slightly because I know these situations exist from past forum posts. It would be a maddening, frustrating, and sad emotional roller coaster.

Thank you for sharing your story and know that I and many others sympathize. I hope you get a new X soon and join us on the road again!

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Unfortunately I think it is pretty obvious Tesla's production prioritizes parts for new cars, and their constant changes mean such a dizzying array of different parts for a similar purpose that those new parts - even if made available for maintenance and repairs which I'm not sure they always are - are not often compatible with older vehicles. When the "whole" operation is set to deliver as many cars as possible this quarter with whatever latest hardware changes are available to produce, that creates a certain amount of "debt" on the maintenance side of things.

Immaturity of the service and repair network is another thing, but having watched this for a long while now, I sincerely believe a lot of folks are doing the best they can (both in the service centers, repair shops and Tesla's advocacy team), but how Tesla has set up their parts operation and prioritized it, is the bottleneck. You can't repair a car if you can't get parts. The very same thing happens even with simple warranty part replacements, getting some Tesla parts simply takes a massively long time (months).

I had a crash on my Audi A8 (another driver fell sleep at the wheel) earlier this decade, which is considered a bit exotic and rare where I live, especially in those days when aluminium was not yet used in the volume models like Audi A6. Aluminium requires specialist repair shop spaces and all that (true for Tesla as well of course). The repair shop actually called in some guy from retirement to help oversee the aluminium repair, because they don't get them often. The repair cost the insurance company the price of a new mid-sized car. Yet it was performed in one month from the crash and very well. A bit longer than a similar crash, say, in an Audi A4, which probably would have gotten done in three weeks or so, but still a very manageable time.

The key that made a difference there was Audi providing the parts without delay. The only delay that there was, was the shop getting grips with the specialist aluminium repair and a rarer car.

 

[MikeQ]

USAA. I can't, in good conscious, recommend them to anyone anymore. This is beyond unacceptable. Any recommendations on who to turn to once this fiasco wraps up?

We dropped USAA for both home and Auto when we bought our X. We'd been insured with them for 20 years with no claims. I started shopping around because the quote for our X from USAA was rather high. I ended up saving almost $2k per year by moving both home and auto to progressive AND I increased my Auto coverage substantially.

USAA was once a good deal and great company. They are now neither.

 

[smac]

And you've ordered another Tesla? Fool me once...

Thing is what choice have we got?!

I can't think of anything else available to buy today that has an EV drivetrain wrapped up in an attractive body.

Sometimes I think us Tesla owners have a mild case of Stockholm Syndrome

 

[sam2035]

Ummh. I thought I was stuck up a rabbit hole of my own choosing. Glad OP still loves his Tesla.
Tesla body shops will quickly materialize to solve this problem - there is a lot of money to be made. The Model 3 will guarantee that.

Anybody here know where I can get 4145 MIG welding wire recommended by Tesla for welding Tesla body panels? PM me if necessary. Thanks.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

mild

...mild!?!

 

[xborg]

Thing is what choice have we got?!

I can't think of anything else available to buy today that has an EV drivetrain wrapped up in an attractive body.

Sometimes I think us Tesla owners have a mild case of Stockholm Syndrome

Yeap I agree. And the funny thing is, it was exactly what I did. Ordering a new Tesla after my 4 months repair wait. Fortunately, they messed up again ,and finally then I was able to get out of reality distortion field. Now I'm happy without a Tesla.